Summer 2013 - Providence College

SARAH J. DWYER ’13
By VICKI-ANN DOWNING
Providence College sent more students to work with Habitat for
Humanity this spring than any other school in the United States.
Through a Spring Break experience offered by Campus Ministry,
208 students traveled to 16 locations in Connecticut, Delaware,
Indiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
and Tennessee to help construct homes for needy families.
Sarah J. Dwyer ’13 (Long Beach, N.Y.) drove a dozen students to
Mount Airy, N.C., and then supervised them installing siding on a
1,700-square-foot ranch house being built for two grandparents and
three grandchildren. In previous Habitat trips, she’s painted, caulked,
and installed drywall in Portland, Maine, and Wilmington, Del.
Dwyer, a history major, grew up in a family committed to helping
others but said she discovered service in a new form when she
attended a Connections retreat offered by Campus Ministry her
freshman year.
“I had never been told before, ‘You’re a good leader, Sarah,’” she
said. “For the first time in my life, people trusted me to talk to
others about God.”
Through Campus Ministry, Dwyer is in charge of Liturgical
Ministries and runs retreats. She also has served as an orientation
leader each fall.
DURING 2013 SPRING BREAK:
“I don’t think of service as something extra,” said Dwyer. “It’s
something that’s part of my life. It’s not something that I choose.
I like the quote: ‘Doing for others is the rent we pay for living on
earth.’”
STUDENTS — the most of any
college group in the U.S. — participated in Habitat
for Humanity projects at 16 locations
In October, five feet of water from Superstorm Sandy flooded
Dwyer’s family home in New York, leaving it uninhabitable and
forcing her parents to find housing elsewhere. She salvaged all the
possessions she could from her bedroom and stored them in her
room in Mal Brown Hall. It could take two years to rebuild her
city, which had 35,000 year-round residents.
36 STUDENTS 3 FACULTY MEMBERS
traveled to either the Dominican Republic, Mexico,
or South Dakota through the Feinstein Institute for
Public Service
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE SUMMER 2013
Dwyer said her family home wasn’t on her mind as she worked
for Habitat.
“I was thinking, though, that if there comes a time when we might
need to put up drywall in our house, I could help with that,” said
Dwyer. “That’s something I could do.” •